[NOTE: The following is an article written in 2005, by Nimai Pandit Dasa Temple president of the ISKCON Long Island Temple. This article was found to be in the same mood as this Treatise; hence it is presented for your consideration. After reading this you will understand why the so-called, in name only, entity who are calling themselves as to be GBCs of ISKCON, are unscrupulous, untruthful, dishonest and frauds. Sixteen years have passed since Nimai Pandit Das tried to warn the followers of Srila Prabhupada about what was going on with the management of his mission. At that time in 2005, it was “A Coup Attempt”. Today, 2022, one can say without a doubt, it has become “A Successful Coup”. I have done some grammatical editing, and have added text for the purpose of clarification to the reader. In all regards, this editing absolutely does not change the message found in its contents.]
As you all may be aware by now, the “GBC” has ordered all temples in North America to adopt a set of Bylaws, which in essence makes a ISKCON GBC Society, registered in West Bengal, the centralized controller of all the temples, very much against the direct orders of Srila Prabhupada who did not want such centralization of his ISKCON. It is very dangerous for our future generations. This is going to kill ISKCON as Srila Prabhupada desired it to be. I implore you to please take a little of your valuable time to go through two articles posted on Sampradaya Sun recently, if you have not already done so.
Jan 21, LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK (SUN) —Nimai Pandit das is Temple President of the ISKCON Long Island temple.
Navadvipchandra Prabhu, in his article “All GBC orders are suspended until further notice”, (See Appendix B.), has accurately discussed the position of the phantom ISKCON GBC Society of West Bengal with respect to Srila Prabhupada’s temples around the world. This is the single most important issue facing our society right now.
For the record, there is no ISKCON Umbrella Corporation, as yet. Initially, Turley tried to sue an imaginary umbrella corporation – ISKCON – but the lawsuit was dismissed. The name “ISKCON” was found to be “just a work of art”, not a legal entity. Then he brought the new lawsuit against 13 individual corporations, and most of them simultaneously declared Bankruptcy under the Article 11 reorganization plan. With the new bylaws, the ISKCON GBC members are deviously trying to form just that – an umbrella corporation of the name “ISKCON GBC Society of West Bengal”.
There are many Governing Body Commissions of various organizations all over the world, most prominent being the Governing Body Commission of the Indian Railways (from which historically Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada took the name and function for his Gaudiya Matha). The Governing Bodies generally operate and oversee their respective organizations.
How do we distinguish them from one another? To state that “this person is a GBC member”, does not automatically mean that the concerned person is a member of “THE” International Society for Krishna Consciousness, incorporated by Srila Prabhupada in 1966. In other words, there can be many religious organizations, each with their own Governing Body Commissions.
Hence when one refers to the “GBC”, one can rightly ask “of which organization?” Herein explains the greatest “sleight of hand job”, (the use of cunning, especially so as to deceive), some members of the ISKCON GBC Society of West Bengal have managed to pull off on the whole of the ISKCON world for so long.
This Society has legally NOTHING TO DO with Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON. They have just named their society to look like it is the authorized GBC of ISKCON. But it is not so. Srila Prabhupada never registered the GBC as a separate society. He formed the Governing Body Commission of his ISKCON society in 1970 by a legal directive called the Direction of Management of July 28th, 1970.
Badrinarayan Das, a member of the ISKCON GBC Society of West Bengal, passionately preached about the importance of the Direction of Management in the Supreme Court of New York in 2004, as part of his testimony under oath, (under his legal name of Robert Morrill):
(Holding the Direction of Management in his hands)
Morrill:
“This is Prabhupada, the founder of our Society, founding the GBC.”
“And I should mention that this document is quoted, it is referenced, it is well known. It’s the basis of the decisions, the basis of our authority.”
Attorney of Morrill:
“It’s a historical document?”
Morrill:
“Historical document that’s referred to repeatedly.”
Mr. Morrill and his Attorney go over the duties and powers of the GBC from the DOM, but manage NOT TO GO OVER points 2, 3 or 4, setting up the election of GBC from among the Temple Presidents every three years. The actual portions of the transcript of his testimony are downloadable here in a .pdf version.
In that court case, various members of the West Bengal Society repeatedly, over many years, have been positioning themselves as the great lovers of the DOM, dependent upon it with. That includes Hrdayananda Goswami, Romapada Swami, Bir Krishna Goswami, and the entire West Bengal Society represented by its then Chairman Pragosh das. Anyone can check their filings in public court records.
It will come as a surprise to many who claim that the Direction of Management has become obsolete, or that Srila Prabhupada changed his mind after 1970 about election of the GBC. On July 22, 1974, Srila Prabhupada, signed and counter-signed a “Topmost Urgency” letter to include election of the GBC, according to the Document Direction of Management (underlined in the original document), for “AMENDMENTS TO BE IMMEDIATELY ADDED TO ALL OFFICIAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENTS, CONSTITUTIONS, INCORPORATION PAPERS, ETC.”.
[Continued in Next Segment]